Beam and joist chair



1 615 551 Jan 1927' J. REYNOLDS ET AL BEAM AND JOIST CHAIR Filed Dec. 26, 1924 2 Shee LS-Sheet 1 Jan. 25 1 927. 1 615 651 J. REYNOLDS ET AL BEAM AND JOISYT CHAIR Filed Dec. 26, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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m w/( 4 MM Q Qlftoznmga I poured from concrete.

. Patented Jan. 25, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,615,651 PATENT orrics.

JAMES REYNOLDS AND JOHN WILSON, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO; SAID VIILSON ASSTGNOR OF HIS ENTIRE RIGHT TO REYNOLDS.

BEAM AND J'OIST CHAIR.

Application filed December 26, 1924. Serial No. 758,011.

This invention relates to a support or chair for concrete reinforcing bars such as generally used in the construction of concrete beams and joists.

The general object of the invention is to provide a chair which may be formed from a single strip of material into a rigid supporting member capable of being very easily and cheaply manufactured and used in varying lengths depending on the number 0t bars it is desired to support.

In forming concrete joists usually two reinforcing bars are used, one to lie flat at the bottom of the joist and the other to be bent upwardly at its end to form a trussed reinforcement for the joist. In the case of a wider beam, four or six bars are usually used alternating horizontal and trussed bars, It is very seldom that one reinforcing her alone is used for such a purpose. The chairs which we have shown in two modifications.

may be made from a single strip of material such as a round bar or wire, a suitable size being 8 or 10 gauge. It is desirable to support the reinforcing bars a slight distance above the false-work or pouring form which runs the entire length of the beam to be For this purpose a very low chair is most desirable, to so position the bars as to attain the maximum of reinforcement therefrom. That is to say the bars should be supported close to the floor of the false-worl:, yet provide room for the concrete to flow beneath the bars to adequately cover them and protect them from rust.

We have found that by looping a continuous piece of rod first into comparatively open and then into substantially closed loops that by simply bending a predetermined portion of each of the closed loops downwardly first in one direction then in another and repeating, a very cheap and satisfactory chair is formed. By cutting off sections at this formed structure comprising a portion of two of the closed loops which includes between them a single complete closed loop and a pair of the open loops, a very strong chair may be formed for supporting a pair of reinforcing bars. Provision has been made in a modified form for cutting the strip to support only one bar and it will be apparent t lat either embodlment may be cut to support any number of bars.

Other features and ohjects'ot the invention will become apparent in the further description which relates to the accompanying drawings wherein we have shown the preferred form. The essential characteristics will be summarized in the claims.

In the drawings, Fig, 1 is a perspective of a chair adapted to support four reinforcing bars; Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is a perspective of a slightly different form of chair; Fig. 4 is an end elevation thereof; Fig. 5 is a sectional perspective of a portion of a floor under construction showing a pair of reinforcing bars supported on our chair; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a complete chair formed by cutting in half the chair shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the chair shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a plan view of a pair of colums connected by false-work for forming a beam, showing four reinforcing bars supported thereon on our chairs; Fig. 9 is a sectional side elevation of the bars and false-work shown in Fig. 8.

The rod or strip to be bent may of course be orginally straight or on a roll. The open and closed loops placed therein as a first operation of forming are indicated in Fig. 6,

at 5 and 6 respectively. The loop 5 preferably has a middle portion cradle for centrally supporting a reinforcing bar or the like and the sides 7 thereof extend upwardly as shown. One of these sides is a part of the first closed loop 6 while the other ends at the bend 8 from which the material extends downward to form the end leg 6*. This may be considered as part of an original closed loop 6 sheared at its lowermost point. The first loop 6 is bent downwardly at 9 and extends outwardly to form the leg 10 on one side of the chair as shown in Fig. 2. while on the other side the next succeeding loop, designated 6 extends downwardly in the reverse direction. The next loop indicated at 6 is bent down in the same direction as the loop 6 so as to pro duce an alternate disposition of legs each being in a plane in common with either the legs 6 or 6*. All the open loops 5 are substantially alike and occupy the same vertical plane. In Fig. 6, we show a complete supporting chair for a pair of reinforcing bars formed by cutting in two the chair shown in Fig. 1. We have found that by cutting the outer or bottom end of the loop 6* substantially in the middle, a slight foot is formed on the lower end of: the leg shown in Figs. 1 and 6 at 13.

This chair may be handled in a construction job in a continuous long series and the desired number of loops may be sheared oil. in multiples of two such as shown in Fig. (3, four as shown in Fig. 1, or as many as may be desired.

As shown in the modified construction (Figs. 3, 4L and 7) we have added. somewhat to the stability of the chair by iorn'iing an extra closed loop. In otherwords with rel"- crence to Figs. 3 and 7 C(J'ilSldBllllgil'lG operation of making the chair beginning at the open loop 15, the first closed loop formed El. S

is that indicated at 16, and the second 1.7

the material extending beyond the last loop to form the loop 18. This portion as before is substantially in the same vertical plane as the loop 15 and about the same height. The loops 16 and 17 may be bent downwardly in opposite directions as at ll) in the same manner as before.

Referring especially to Figs. 3 and 4:, it will beseen that the outer ends of the chair are formed of horizontally disposed portions 20. This is attained by cutting the middle span between the two closed loops 16 and 17 as at 21, and bending down the free ends into a substantially strai ht floor engaging member. It is to be unc erstood, of course, that the chair is self-supporting without this additional foot and in :most cases need not be resorted to; that is to say the outer end of the sheared closed loop n'iight remain projecting upwardly.

In Fig. 5 we have shown the single pair of reinforcing bars B and B as supported on such .a chair as shown in Fig. 3. The chair rests on false work C which may be the so called metal dome sheeting which is used for a form in such concrete construction. The portion of the false work C extending downwardly from the general plane forming the joists for the upper portion C supports the floor or ceiling. The end of the bar B it may be supposed, may rest on a higher chair to prevent its falling sideward or may be scci-ired to vertical rein- Forcing bars not shown. The chairs not only serve to support the *rcinilorcing bars in place but by reason of the iwc rhs nging ends oil? the chair, the bars are spaced apart from the form C.

In Figs. 8 and l) a pair of column l'ori-ns are indicated at l) and D l'raving suitable reinforcing bars D extending vertically therein. The false work E for supporting the concrete for the beams extends across and is supported by the false work for the column. Two chairs 1 and 2 are shown as supported on this false work. As shown in Fig. 8 the straight bars B fall short of entering the columns and are therefore entirely supported by the chairs, while the trusscd bars B alternately placed with relercncc to thestraight bars extend oul wardly through the vertical reinl'orccnlent, usually through the column cap shown at F and this upper end of the bar 1% is retained against falling by the vertical bars.

By varying the gauge of rods from which the chairs are formed, the chairs may support reinforcing bars of almost any weight commonly used since when the weight of the 'bar is increased the distance between the bars is increased accordingly, and therefore the bends in the material necessary to form the cradle-like support and the sun porting lcgs'are no sharper than for lighter chairs.

It will be seen that we have n'oridcd a very simple rhair l'or this pur 'iosc which may 'be made in any length for sul'iporlfing any number of bars and from which any length may be easily out up to term shorter units for supporting simply a pair or even one bar.

ll it 'is'dcsircd to support sinn il-y a single bar the form of chair shown in Fig. 3 would be used, in which case the chair therein shown could be sheared in two at 21 and the bends "adjacent the shearing point bent down as at 20. With reference to Fig. 4, it will be seen that the supports so formed would be entirely adequate since the weight indicated at B would be directly over the central portion of the two horizontally disposed portions 20.

Having thus described our invention, we claim 1- 1. A chair "for supporting concrete reinforcing bars comprising a continuous member formed into a plurality of upright substantially U-shaped bends in mutual alignment and vertically disposed, the member continuing into longer bonds between each adjacent first named bend the adjacent longer bends being on opposite sides of the plane of the U-shaped bends, whereby 'a three point support is provided for a bar carried by either or two adjacent U-shaped bonds.

2. A support for the purpose set forth, comprising a single piece of wire or the like Formed to provide vertically cxtendingopcn loops. in the same plane the wire intermediate the loops being bent downwariilly in a narrow loop at an angle to the plane of first named loops, and the l'rco ends of the wire being bent dmvnwardly from the 'rcmolo ends of the first named loops and in a plane intersecting both aforesaid planes at a common line whereby bars may be suspended from the said end portion and narrow loop at points below the said intersections of planes and intermediately of the remote planes.

3. A device of the character described comprising a single piece of wire or the like formed to provide close and open loops,

there being one close loop between adjacent open loops, the remote ends of the wire being bent downwardly from respective upper ends of the most remote open loops, said open loops being in a vertical plane and each adapted to support a Weight such as a bar along the lowermost portion thereof, the sides of the loop preventing lateral shifting of the weight, and the elose loop and end portions being disposed in respective planes intersecting along a line directly above the supporting portions of the open loops whereby the load is suspended from the upper ends of the close loop and remote end potions, and whereby the device will stand upright irrespective of whether all or a portion of the open loops hear such weight.

t. A one piece supporting unit comprising aligned and separated portion in a horizontal plane, a narrow loop joining the adjacent ends of said portions extending upwardly and vertically for a short distance and then downwardly at an angle to the vertically extending portion, the other ends of each separated portion extending first upwardly and vertically, then downwardly at an angle similar to that of the narrow loop but on the opposite side of the horizontal portions, whereby a bar may be suspended from the loop and end portions and be prevented from lateral displacement by these elements.

5. A support for concrete reinforcing bars comprising a member having substantially vertically disposed aligned loops open upwardly to support bars and maintain them against lateral shifting, a longer loop connecting said vertically disposed loops and extending downwardly at one side of the plane of such loops and adapted to serve as a supporting leg, and leg portions formed at the outer ends of said vertically dis osed loops, said leg portions extending ownwardly on the other side of said plane and then flatwise along the surface upon which the support is adapted to rest.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures.

JAMES REYNOLDS. JOHN WILSON. 

